Fighting for you
by ZADRookie
Summary: Sometimes, the only thing necessary to coerce the truth out of a ninja is a spell.


It's been a while (again) since I posted anything at all here.

Hope you like this short story inspired by mythweaver1 "The Summoned Land" and "War of the Crystals". FF IV is my second most favorite of the FF Saga (being FF VI, the first one).

Well, without further ado... here is the story.

**FIGHTING FOR YOU**

**by ZADRookie**

With Zemus defeated and Golbez gone, the nations were finally able to rebuild their towns and their cities. In fact, Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, Edge, and Kain were traveling from place to place helping people get rid of the last remaining monsters. Kain had asked to join them in their quest as a mean to make amends - not only to them, but to the world he had almost help destroy.

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

"Are you sure this is how you would like to spend your honeymoon?", Rydia asked Rosa for the hundredth time since they had started their travels. They had just stopped to take a respite in the rebuilt Inn of Damcyan.

"Yes", Rosa - also - replied for the hundredth time, "Cecil and I gave it some thought and we agreed that it would have been unfair of us to go our merry way while the rest of the world was still recovering from their losses".

Rydia pursed her lips to the side. "Besides", Rose said and looked at the other girl in a meaningful way, "were would we go in our honeymoon? Most of the places were destroyed by Golvez in his wake to get the crystals".

"Good point", Rydia nodded. A knock on the open door made the ladies turn to see the new comer; Cecil was standing in the doorway. "Can I come in?", he asked.

"Sure", Rydia said, "I was leaving anyway". She jumped off the bed she was seating on.

"Remember we are going to leave early tomorrow for Eblan Castle", Cecil said at her back. She twirled around and nodded.

"I'll hit the sheets earlier than usual. I promise", Rydia replied and exited the room... leaving the newly wed to their own devices.

_How would Edge feel being back after being away for so long?_, the summoner thought, tilting her head to the side and frowning some. The sun was setting but she decided to take a walk on her own around the town before tucking in for the night.

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

Rydia returned to the inn five strokes past midnight. However, she was surprised at the silhouette standing guard by her door. The stillness of the man was so perfect that she would have dismissed him as an adorning suit of armor.

"Kain?" she asked tentatively. The 'suit of armor' moved its head with a nod.

The summoner girl passed by his side and opened the bedroom door. "What are you doing here?"

"I...", he started, "... needed to talk to you".

"Come in then", she invited and offered him a chair - the only one available next to the desk; she plopped herself on the bed. However, the dragoon remained by the door.

"I'm fine here", he said and leaned on the frame. Rydia shrugged. "Suit yourself", she plainly said.

"So...", the girl said after a long, awkward moment of silence, "what brings you here?". She eyed Kain as if looking into his soul and the man shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"I... well...", he started. Rydia knew that words were not Kain's forte, but this was getting annoyingly ridiculous. "I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry for what I did to your village and your mother... for all the things I put you through... and I don't even entertain the idea of your forgiveness..."

"Hold it, hold it!", the girl interrupted him, "Why are you apologizing to me now? You never seem to give to it much thought before".

"I just...", he said but his words failed him again, "... never thought there was a good time for that. After you returned from the Feymarch you were bent on ignoring me and/or hating me; I decided it was a good thing since I had not yet come to terms with the fact that you, the last survivor of Mist, had come back either".

"Fair enough", Rydia nodded and stood up from the bed, walking toward him, "but I forgive you, Kain. This time, I really do".

She patted his shoulder as if reassuring herself of her words. The stiff figure of the dragoon relaxed, and the summoner hadn't realized how tense he had been from all the ordeal of talking to her and apologize.

"Now, got to sleep", she said and cleared her throat, "tomorrow we depart early". The man nodded and bid her good night. Once he left, Rydia remained by the door.

"You too", she said to the empty room. However, a corner by the window that the moonlight didn't reach - forming an uneven diamond of shadow - flickered and another figure stepped away from it.

"How did you know I was there?!", the ninja asked and ran his hand over his spiky silvery hair.

"Let's say I took a wild guess", Rydia replied and rolled her eyes, "by the way, why are you here... in my room?"

"Making sure he doesn't take advantage of an innocent, naive maiden of course", Edge said and courted some.

"That sounds more like something you would do", the summoner stated flatly.

"Yeah... probably", the ninja said, dismissively, "but you must admit he has been circling around often".

"How so?", the emerald-haired girl asked and lift a brow.

"He seems to look for opportunities to catch you by yourself", Edge said.

"Maybe because he has been trying all this time to tell me what he told me and didn't know how to breach the subject", the summoner retorted. "And, by the way, why do you know that? Are you keeping tabs on him?"

"Not exactly", the ninja said and shrugged.

"Out", Rydia said, "Now".

She made sure that Edge left for sure this time, slipped in a night gown, and went to sleep. She realized, then, that her question about the prince's feeling for being back home had just missed the chance of being asked.

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

"Despite all the debris and destruction", Rosa said, her footsteps echoing in the cobbled floor, "I admit this place gives me the creeps".

"The caste is as imposing as ever", agreed Rydia, walking by the white mage's side.

The people and the Seneschal had been wary of Kain - like most of the placed they had visited before - after his arrival with the group, but Edge convinced them that he was atoning for his sins and that he, as the prince, was keeping an eye on him. That seemed to calm the waters some. The party had reached Elban the day before - after a three day voyage in the Falcon - and were informed about the rebuilding progress the ninja clan had made with the restoration of the castle's east wing and the moat... however, monsters seem to have settled a heavy lair on the west wing and refused to leave.

The current ninja force was barely enough to keep the monster at bay, let alone removing them from the premises. The group had nodded their agreement to help Edge vanish the fiends once and for all. They had reached the core of the monsters' lair and were disposing of the last pair of Lamias that were stubborn enough to try to hold their ground. The mangled bodies of the Lamias writhed on the floor and moments later, all life had departed from them.

"Mission Accomplished!", giggled Rydia with delight. She went at the far end of where the Lamias' nest rested and a strange thought of pity seized her. They had been forcibly removed for the only placed they had... from their home. The summoner shook her head to clear the thought away from her mind and when she turned to look at her comrades... she found herself peering into another Lamia's eyes. Rydia's will waved and abandoned her consciousness. Her eyes lost the spark of her personality and were left with a vacant, dull stare. The Lamia, parted her lips and barred her fangs lowering them dangerously to Rydia's neck; her head tilted to the left, exposing it.

"Rydia!", Rosa's voice came from far away and an arrow sailed over the fiend's head, distracting it from its current prey. The snake-woman turned to face the coming group and readied her stance. Rosa reloaded her bow to let her arrows rain over the foe but was surprised by Rydia's presence a few inches from her face.

The white mage gasped, her tactic forgotten due to the distraction. The summoner stretched her arms and cupped Rosa's face in her hands; Rydia gently pulled her towards her and before the blonde woman realized what had happened, the green-haired girl locked her lips with her in a sweet kiss, her eyes closed.

"Damn! That's hot!", Edge said ruefully. Cecil and Kain were so startled and surprised by the turn of events that both left their guards down and the Lamia took her chance to constrict the dragoon in the rings of her coiled tail and slashed at Cecil's throat. The paladin barely avoided the attack and countered with a jab of his sword. It pierced the creature's left shoulder and when he was about to strike with more aim at the fiend, Rydia had materialized out of the air in front of him.

"What the...", Cecil skittered to a halt, not wanting to slash at the summoner. The girl looked like a combination of Siren and Sylph, displaying a _sex appeal_ unknown to her - or to the others, for that matter - that made her dangerously alluring.

_It must be the effect of the Entice spell_, Cecil's mind assessed. Rydia giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, gripping gently at his snow-white hair and pushing him towards her tilted face; her lips welcoming his.

"Hey! No fair!", Edge growled but directed his rage to the Lamia, slashing at its tail to free Kain from the tight embrace. The snake-woman shrill screech was music to the ninja's ear and he knelt beside the dragoon to make sure he was still breathing.

"Cecil!", Rosa's voice sounded outraged but by the time he had retreated. Rydia had skipped away.

"You kissed her first", the paladin said, trying to placate the white mage jealousy.

"She forced me into it!", Rosa said, blushing.

"Can we just finish this already and worry about Rydia's affections later?", Edge said with a scowl, rushing towards the Lamia head on.

"You are just annoyed because she didn't kiss you first", a voice to his right said teasingly and Kain rushed past him; his spear ready to skew the monster. He was close to his mark when a blur of green appeared at the corner of his right eye. The summoner girl smiled at him sweetly - angelically, even - and caressed his chin with her fingertips. The dragoon lost his footing and skidded on the rough castle floor.

"Enough of this!", Edge roared and started to form signs with his fingers, releasing a powerful fire spell that seemed as wild and angry as its caster. The charred body of the Lamia fell limply on the floor. Cecil, Rosa, and Edge eyed the crisp monstrosity.

"I'm glad this is over", the white mage said but still pierced Cecil with a blaming stare.

"Hey, stop!", they heard the dragoon order in a nervous yet annoyed tone. The trio looked at the spot Kain had halted after his sliding. The man was backpedaling away from a still mind-controlled Rydia. However, his retreat was cut short by the sturdy wall. The summoner smiled mischievously and crawled in between the dragoon's leg to his chest were she laid her lit form against him and closed her eyes while stretching her neck to close the gap that was between their faces.

The girl's lips never reached her mark - Kain thanking the heavens inwardly - since a throbbing pain in her head brought her back to reality.

"Ow ow ow", she complained, taking her hands up her head to cover the abused spot. Edge was still frowning and kept his fist ready in case Rydia needed another bonk - gentle yet firm - on the head.

"What was that for!?", asked the summoner looking angrily at him.

"Believe me", the ninja said in a stern, cold tone, "it was for your own good". Rydia tilted her head, puzzled; somehow, it seemed to her that Edge wanted to look and sound menacing, and yet... she thought she saw a hurt glint in his eyes and heard it in his voice.

"Ehem", someone cleared his throat below her, "can you move off me now?"

"Eeeeekkk!", Rydia yelped when she saw she was straddling the dragoon. This time it was her turn to backpedal away in horror.

"Thanks", he sourly said, lifting his form from the ground and dusting himself off.

"What are you? Gay?", Edge asked, venom seething from his clenched teeth.

"I'm not", Kain said as calmly as he could, "she is not my type, that's all".

"Gay", the ninja coughed ill-intended.

"You are a sore loser, Edge", the dragoon said and smirked at him, "just because she chose me over you..."

"Rydia gasped and opened her mouth to defend herself from the accusation but Edge's next revelation chilled her blood and turned her to stone.

"After she kissed Rosa and then Cecil, you settle for third place", Edge teased bitterly, "that's unlike you".

"Third place is still better than no place at all", jabbed the dragoon.

The summoner tuned off the men's quarrel, gulped, and turned her head to look at the paladin and the white mage over her shoulder. Both of them were calmly looking at her - albeit apologetically - and smiled her way. Rydia felt her head spin and wished for the earth to swallow her whole; a hand on her shoulder steadied her and saw Cecil and Rosa reassuringly pat her back.

"Don't give too much thought to it", Rosa said, "you were under the Lamia's entice spell".

"Yes, but...", Rydia said, chocking on the words, remorseful.

"It wasn't your fault, Rydia", Cecil said with a tone that gave no room to retorts, "but I must admit it was... interesting". He smiled a sly smile.

The summoner blushed and Rosa jabbed the paladin's ribs with her elbow. Cecil smiled at the white mage and entraped her in his arms.

"However", Rosa said, "I think the only one hurt here was Edge". The three looked at the ninja, still sulking by the wall; Kain was nowhere to be seem.

"At least his ego", Cecil agreed and added, "we better return to the east wing and report". The women nodded.

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

Rydia was drying her unruly curls, seating on the bed. After all the sweating and blood of the battles they faced, a nice, warm bath did wonders for her mood.

"Rydia?", Rosa's voice came from the ajar door of the summoner's room.

"Come in!", she chirped. The white mage just poked her head in.

"I just wanted to let you know the dinner is already being served in the Grand Hall", the woman said.

"I'll be right there", the green-haired girl replied with a nod, "thanks, Rosa". Her friend nodded back and retreated from whence she came.

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

Cecil, Rosa, and Rydia were eating their meals in the improvised communal dinning room that was set in the Great Hall of the castle: rows after rows of tables - flanked by equally long benches - littered the place and gave it the feeling of a verylarge tavern. Edge and Kain where nowhere in sight yet.

"I hope they are ok", Rydia sighed. She felt she owed an apology to the dragoon for the way she had acted - spell or no spell aside. To the ninja, she felt she owed nothing to him since he had always had a player personality.

The trio finished their dinner and Rydia bid Cecil and Rosa good nights when they excused themselves and retired to their room. The summoner didn't mind as this gave her plenty of chance to handle unfinished matters.

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

Rydia was taking a break on a boulder in the center of an inner courtyard of the castle; flanked by some kind of old, tall, sturdy, and leafless cherry tree. The girl imagined that, when spring came, the tree would give a refreshing shadow over the boulder with its canopy. She was leaning on the palms of her hands while sitting on the spot - panting and huffing heavily -; her attempts at finding Kain, unsuccessful. She had run up and down the place, looking for him from the barracks below to the high sentry posts without results.

"KAIN, YOU JERK!", she yelled at the top of her lungs in the middle of the - seemingly - desolated courtyard.

"You tried to kiss me and now I'm the jerk? How so?", the voice of the dragoon on her back asked her after her outburst disappeared. Kain, fully armored, was walking toward her but - thinking better of it - stepped a few feet away.

"Where have you been?", Rydia asked.

"Around", the man said and shrugged non-committal.

"I have been looking for you for a long time", she said and huffed. He tilted his head to the side and the summoner could almost picture him arching a brow.

"I'm here now", he said not specially thrilled.

"Yes, well...", Rydia said, "I'mreallysorryIstraddledyouandtriedtodoweirdthingstoyoubutmostofallI'msorryItriedtokissyou". The words blurted out of her mouth faster than Kain could register them. After a long pause, the dragoon sighed and pointed at the boulder she was sitting on.

"May I?", he asked. Rydia nodded, catching her breath and gulping. The man sat a comfortable distance away - not too far, not too close - and, also, rested his weight on the palms of his hands, leaning on the rough surface.

"I know I'm not your type", she sighed, "but I do feel bad for forcing myself to you". Kain tousling her hair was what Rydia least expected at that moment; she looked at him, puzzled.

"You were not yourself", he said and rested his hand at his side again, "and well, I said that more for Edge's well-being than mine".

"What do you mean?", Rydia asked and eyed him intently. Kain half-smiled under his helmet.

"Let's just say I didn't want Edge to worry about being in the same spot as Cecil", he explained, "I mean... you do know the complicated story he, Rosa, and me share".

"Barely", she said not wanting to admit she had her suspicions about it at first and then Edge had placed the pieces of the puzzle together, "it was a situation that didn't really concerned me".

"Well", the dragoon said, "if maybe my feelings had moved on from Rosa, I would probably have taken an interest in you. Too bad I still like blondes better". He gave her and obnoxious side-grin and jumped off the boulder to walk into the castle again.

Rydia remained motionless, her mouth agape in disbelief until she shook her head and growled at how easily the dragoon had not only dismissed her apology... but her person, too.

"Whatever...", she huffed angrily, "I apologized. I already did my part". She felt hot and flustered and the boulder cooling surface relieved her - albeit partially - of it. She leaned slowly on the hard surface and looked at the starry sky through the cherry tree branches.

"So... the dragoon gets an apology and I don't even get an acknowledgement?", said Edge with an aggravated tone; his voice floating to the summoner from above. She stirred herself up to seat and saw him perched on a sturdy branch of the tree.

"You were the one that hit me in the head, if I recall", Rydia said and rubbed the spot on her head with her right hand as if the pain had returned, "I owe you nothing".

"You were acting like a kissing monster!", he hissed and frowned; his scarf covering from his nose to his chin, "Someone had to stop you!"

"It was the Lamia's entice spell", Rydia said, trying to sound matter-of-fact, "everyone seemed to have gotten it out of their systems but you".

"You are unnerving, you know", he told her and looked away, sulking. The summoner girl sat with her legs to the side - mermaid-like -, supporting her weight on her left hand and looking at Edge on the branch above like some kind of 'gargoyle of the tree'. The thought amused her and she giggled a bit. Edge thought she was making fun of him for the situation they had faced early that day and his eyes closed to slits.

"I am", Rydia agreed, "but that still doesn't change the fact that I was under a mind-controlling spell", she stated. Edge frowned some more and growled a bit. The girl knew he had no way to retort to her words. She felt a slight breeze at her side and the clacking of boots on stone: the ninja had jumped from his perch onto the boulder and sat, cross-legged, by her side.

"Why them?", he asked suddenly. In fact, so suddenly that the summoner thought it had been her imagination until he repeated his question.

"Why them?", he asked, lowering the scarf, and his eyes bore on her as if nothing else mattered. Such intent gaze made Rydia gulp.

"I don't know", she shrugged but reassessed her seating and bent her knees up to rest her chin and hands on them, "a command was given to me and my body just moved on its own".

"Really?", Edge said, not buying her short answer.

"I felt as if I was seeing the battle from far away", Rydia added, "what else do you want from me, Edge?"

Suddenly, he took her left wrist and pulled her close. She tumbled in her direction and just had time to place her right hand over his closest calf and even that support was precarious. Rydia felt her hand slip - teetering by Edge's remaining pull force - and he clasped his free hand on her right arm to keep her from falling, face-first, on his lap. However, that didn't help her avoid his lips.

The summoner's eyes opened wide in shock at the kiss. However, it ended as fast as it had started - even though, for her, it had seemed eternal. Edge opened his eyes slowly and regarded her with a sly smile.

"I had wanted this since forever", he purred into the girl's ear, "well... I want more than just that, but I take my victories from where I can". He said that last part in his usual egotistic, princely way.

Rydia's emotions were flashing through her features faster than she could even name them: she blushed, frowned, and scoffed not knowing on which feeling should she anchor herself. Still partly bent over the prince's lap and held somewhat straight by his grip.

"You made all this fuzz for a kiss?", she finally spat when she recovered her voice. She tried to wriggle free from the ninja's clasp but to no avail.

"It's not just for the kiss", he said and his eyes looked cold for a moment, "have you ever considered how you affect others around you!? How you affect _ME_!?"

Rydia looked at his outburst through squinted eyes, deciding between letting the matter go and run away from Edge as fast as she could after she broke free from him, or try to pry him open once and for all. Her curiosity - as most of the times before - got the better of her and chose the later option.

"How should I know?!", she grunted; this time, seating straight and forcing his hands off her, "you barely tell me anything in ernest!"

"Fine! I'll tell you!", he said, running his fingers over his silvery hair, "I like you, Rydia! I _like_ you! OK!?"

"You can't be serious", the girl said, disbelieving.

"I'm serious", he said - calmer this time - and his eyes searched hers, "when I saw you kiss Rosa... I thought it was hot: two chicks kissing". Rydia gave him a deadly glare.

"But when you kissed Cecil", the ninja continued, "and you kissed him good. Man! I was infuriated! And you know why? _Wanna_ know why?"

Rydia found it a bit funny that he started to use a bit of his eblian accent now that he was raging again but asked "why?" nonetheless.

"Because, despite of you being under the control of the spell", he said and clenched his teeth, "I saw it. I saw it in your eyes: the longing... the wanting... the infatuation you had toward Cecil".

The summoner frowned. _Yes_, she adamantly admitted to it inwardly, she had - at some point during her short lived childhood - felt more for Cecil that the mere grateful feelings one held for a savior... but for Edge, of all people, to have been aware of that while her will and consciousness had been driven away...

His voice brought her out of her recollections.

"And then", he continued, "you went after Kain! Kain, for Eblan sake! The person you despised most not so long ago... and me... I..."

It seemed that venting the events was finally deflating his steam. However, he managed to sprang on her like a coeurl pouncing on its prey and wrapped her in a tight embrace. After a moment - and seeing that Edge had no intention of letting her go... yet -, Rydia spoke:"I'm sorry, Edge, I didn't know you felt this way". He nuzzled the crook of her neck.

He straightened himself and lifted the summoner's chin with his index and thumb. He kissed her again, bidding his time - feeling her tense and wriggle within his arms before relaxing -, until he felt she was almost breathless... and let go of her lips.

"I don't accept your apology", he told her. The girl's cheeks were red and her breathing uneven despite her brave efforts to seem cool and in control.

"What!?", Rydia asked baffled, "you already kissed me twice already! I think you can let bygones be bygones".

"I won't be satisfied", he replied darkly and lowered his head for a third assoult. The summoner girl still firmly in his embrace, "not as long as I can still picture Cecil's lips on yours".

"Edg...", Rydia's plea was cut short when the ninja seized her mouth again. She hadn't recover her breathing as she would have liked, nor steadied the frantic beating of her heart... and the summoner wondered if someone had ever died for 'over-kissing'.

Edge's third kiss was more elaborate than the second - let alone the first - and Rydia felt close to fainting for all the feelings and sensation that waged war within her. Finally, he let her off and she leaned forth - resting her forehead on his shoulder. The summoner girl wasn't sure she was going to survive a fourth kiss if the ninja felt he wanted to torture her more.

However, a pang of uncertainty ad jealousy timidly illuminated Rydia's mind: How many women had Edge kissed like that before? The thought just flickered and flashed for a moment before receding; a new one, intruding: Now is not the time for that... so... tired...

Rydia's lips curved in a faint smile feeling her drowsiness creep closer and closer until she was more asleep that awake. She felt herself being lifted and cradled in warm arms and then a steady but purposeful stride spirited her away... to the dorms, she hoped.

"It seems I'll have to take it easy on you for now", Edge's voice came from so far away, from another realm even, "but don't you ever think I'll stop fighting for you".

**THE END**

A/N: No need for feedback unless you feel like doing so.


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